Matt Jones Injures Shoulder in Redskins’ Preseason Win

LANDOVER — The Redskins lost running back Matt Jones to a left shoulder injury in Friday’s 22-18 preseason victory over the New York Jets at FedEx Field.

Washington coach Jay Gruden wouldn’t say how long Jones will be out – only that he has a slight separation of the AC joint in his left shoulder.

Jones was injured with 1:53 left in the first quarter on the Redskins’ second offensive possession. He took a handoff to the left side and was knocked out of bounds after a 3-yard gain. But Jets strong safety Calvin Pryor fell on top of Jones, who ran back toward the huddle in distress.

Quarterback Colt McCoy immediately tapped his helmet to alert team trainers that Jones needed help. He left the game and after a few minutes walked under his own power to the locker room for x-rays.

“When I went down, on a scale of 1-to-10 [the pain] was about a 7,” Jones said. “It settled down, it went down. I still got some flexibility in it now. It’s not as bad as it was.”

Still, Jones will go for more tests on Saturday, he said after the game. In the locker room he had medical tape on his left shoulder and struggled to pull a t-shirt over his head.

Running back has been an area of concern with Jones, a second-year pro, the starter and Chris Thompson, the third-down back last season, behind him. Meanwhile, the rest of the position group is littered with undrafted college free agents or practice-squad players.

“We have to wait and see how long he’s going to be out,” Gruden said. “Watching film to see how Chris Thompson [played], obviously, and [Keith] Marshall and Mack [Brown]. We’ll see how they did. And, obviously, Rob [Kelley]. We’ll grade them out. My level comfort will be determined after I watch the film.”

Jones had actually been having a good night. That was important after the running game scuffled early in a loss to Atlanta last week. Jones carried the ball seven times for 31 yards – though he did have a fumbled handoff exchange with McCoy. Washington managed to recover the fumble.

“I really don’t know,” Jones said. “I still have a lot of flexibility in it and I’m moving well right now. The one thing I can’t do is I just can’t raise my hand right now. That’s about it.”

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